Terrie's Tender Touch

Nobody likes to say Good Byes. One of the things we all look forward to in heaven is that we will never have to say good bye. Last September our youngest son and his wife and their 2 children moved to the other side of the country...I did not want to say good bye; I wanted them to stay with us, but God had another plan and He is using them for His service where they have moved. This past Sunday we had to say a most difficult good bye as after nine years of pastoring the Redwood Baptist Church we had our last service with the church family that we love so dearly. My husband has always been burdened about church planting, and about 16 months ago God dealt with his heart and that burden became a call. It has been such an emotional time for me personally - you know women like to nest; we like to feel secure about where we are and that we'll be able to cozy in and call it home forever...that has not been the case with me. I remember when we were at our previous ministry I really struggl...

Swallowing took on a whole new meaning for me recently when I underwent an endoscopy - that is a test where the patient (me) must swallow a tube with a small camera at the end so that the doctor can see all the way to the stomach. I knew I needed to take the test because of family history - but I was okay with it because I thought I was going to be asleep during the procedure. A few days before my appointment the nurse called to give me last minute instructions; I became apprehensive when she said I would have to be awake to swallow this tube! In fact I told her that it sounded like a panic situation to me...I did not want to do it so I fretted and stewed about having to swallow that tube for the rest of the week (that was a lot of help); but the truth is the only way I could get the results was by swallowing that horrifying tube. Thankfully I indeed was asleep during the procedure and so all that panicking was for nothing - Praise the Lord! That word swallow is an interesting word...

This past Friday I underwent a health test that required my having an empty stomach. I was instructed to have nothing to eat or drink after 7:30 in the morning but the actual test was not until 4:45 pm - so I had to fast all day. My husband woke me up a little earlier than usual to invite me out to breakfast - we finished our last bite and sip of coffee by 7:25. We spent the rest of the morning at the church getting some things done, and then we ran a few other errands before going back home for the afternoon. I was able to nap (to kill time and not think about being thirsty) and when I woke up my mouth was pretty dry - but I couldn't have any water. I didn't say anything about it - its not really a big deal, but my husband came downstairs to check on me and wanted to let me know that he was with me - that he too had determined that he wouldn't eat or drink anything either. Maybe that's not a huge deal, and I wouldn't have minded if he had wanted to eat and dri...

"Beauty is bought by judgment of the eye." -Shakespeare 1588 "Beauty, like supreme dominion is but supported by opinion." -Benjamin Franklin 1741 "Beauty in things exists merely in the mind which contemplates them." -David Humes Essays, Moral and Political, 1742 "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" as we quote it today is a line from the book Molly Bawn written by Margaret Wolf Hungerford in 1878. The same sentiment expressed throughout history in these quotes is this - beauty is a matter of opinion. I remember when my first child was born I thought he was the most beautiful child, so you can imagine my utter surprise when one of my sisters-in-law came by and saw him and said, "oh look, now he is getting cute." In my mind I thought, "Getting? What do you mean getting? He has always been very cute!" She had her opinion and I had mine - to me he was always beautiful and to her he was now getting cute (at least she had th...

On Sunday morning my husband preached a message about the feeding of the 5000. As he was preaching he mentioned the "lad" that had food to share. I have often thought of that lad as I have read my Bible and so many thoughts have flooded my mind about that situation...here is the account of what happened. "When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little. One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, saith unto him, There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes : but what are they among so many? And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. And Jesus took the loaves; an...